William and Kate's Weirdest Canada Tour Moment So Far (Phallic-Shaped Clam, Anyone?)
The royals know how to put things diplomatically.
"Presentationally they are quite challenging," Prince William said Tuesday as he and Princess Kate prepared to take a bite of a geoduck, a phallic-shaped clam that is native to the waters off British Columbia.
The couple took part in a food and wine festival in the idyllic setting of a hilltop winery in the Okanagan Valley on Tuesday – the third full day of their Canadian tour.
After seeing the seafood in its straight-from-the-ocean state, the couple were given two bowls of a Japanese recipe prepared with the clam's flesh.
"There is a slightly firmer texture to this," observed Kate. "It's really unusual. I've never seen it before. It's so fresh from the sea."
Chef Ned Bell, who had introduced the couple to the food, told reporters, "It is an extraordinary species. You can eat the body, but you can also eat the neck raw, which is what they ate."
He added, "It is absolutely phallic, but at the end of the day it is a clam. Here on the west coast we have some of the best wild, well-managed shellfish in the world."
How Will and Kate Spent a Kid-Free Night in Yukon During Their Canadian Tour
(It wasn't the couple's first fishy encounter of the tour: During a rainy trip to the remote island of Bella Bella on Monday, the pair were greeted by the sight of rotting salmon that had returned to spawn at the Great Bear Rain Forest.)
After chatting with some of the area's best-known chefs, the couple also tasted some of the spirits on show. William took a sip of whisky, while Kate instead sampled the Laird of Fintry's cassis (a blackcurrant liquor), which she declared as like "sloe gin," the Daily Expressreported.
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After spending a kid-free night in Yukon on Tuesday, the royal parents are set to visit the MacBride Museum of Yukon History followed by a visit to the small town of Carcross on Wednesday, with a mountain biking trek also on the itinerary.
